The Criterion Referenced Competency Test

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Criterion Referenced Tests have been around as late as the 1970's. The creation of the Criterion Referenced Test helped establish specific standards. It was created in order to establish certain information and learning that is necessary to continue the next steps in a child's education. With Criterion Referenced Tests, students learning is copared to the criteria or standards, not to other students. These types of assessments consist of multiple choice items that match the curriculum, or at least suppose to match the curriculum. The issue at hand is whether or not the CRCT assessment is an effective assessment program to use at all. According to FairTest, The National Center for Fair and Open Testing, “some CRT's, such as many state tests, are not based on a specific curriculum, but on a more general idea of what students might be taught (FairTest, 2007). The Georgia Department of Education has claimed that the CRCT assessment measures how well a student has acquired the knowledge and skills covered by the curriculum at his or her grade level. This End-of-the-Year assessment tool is not relevant to me due to the fact that I teach in Alabama, but the criteria that goes along with effective assessments such as validity, reliability, norming information, Standard Error of Measurement (SEM), etc. are all components that are used throughout American Schools in preparing and analyzing assessments properly. This research paper will discuss the components of the CRCT assessment and whether or not this program is effective. Is the CRCT an effective assessment? The Criterion Referenced Competency Test, also known as the CRCT, was created in 2000 in which all students, grades one through eighth, are required to take. ... ... middle of paper ... ...sessment/Assessment/Documents/2702772_sig_s12GA%20%282%29.pdf Hambleton, Ronald (2009, December 23) Criterion-Referenced Tests. Retrieved from http://www.education.com/reference/article/criterion-referenced-tests1/ Improved Achievement on the CRCT (2006-2008). Photo retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HS9bZy2gQbQ Johnson, Shaun (2011, August 25) Standardized Tests: Time for a national opt-out. The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved from http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2011-08-25/news/bs-ed-school-testing- 20110825_1_standardized-tests-educators-teachers Linn, R. L., & Gronlund, N. E. (2000). Measurement and assessment in teaching (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Retrieved from http://www.unm.edu/~devalenz/handouts/criterion.html (The Glossary of Education Reform, 2013). Retrieved from http://edglossary.org/criterion-referenced- test/

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